Baseball Bat Attack In Channahon: Judge Ewanic Releases Neighbor Charged With Felonies

CHANNAHON, IL — A recent baseball bat attack on two people resulted in felony aggravated battery charges for 45-year-old Channahon resident Jamel Brown, but Will County prosecutors were unsuccessful in their effort to keep Brown in the Will County Jail under the SAFE-T-Act.

After hearing the evidence, Will County Associate Judge Derek Ewanic, a former high-ranking prosecutor at the Will County State's Attorney, ordered Brown's release from the Will County Jail after two days of custody, jail logs reflect.

Brown is charged with four counts of aggravated battery, one count of aggravated assault and one count of battery. Brown is accused of hitting one of his Channahon neighbors in the face with a baseball bat. The criminal complaint indicates Brown hit a second neighbor in the face and threatened to kill the same neighbor while holding his baseball bat.

The incident happened Sept. 22. Brown resides in the 24400 block of St. Paul Avenue.

"Jamel hit me in the face with a bat behind the ear. I got the bat, and the cops came and arrested him. I went to the ER," one of the neighbors wrote in his order of protection filing. Back in July, "Jamel was in his driveway yelling racist remarks and threatening neighbors."

The second neighbor also obtained a protection order against Brown, indicating that back on Aug. 27, "Jamel got angry because we told him to stop having his child hitting the ball against our house. Hours later he came beating on the front door. He said I messed up and threatened me. At night, he was outside until about 1:30 a.m. yelling and making threats."

According to the prosecution's filing, at around 4:45 p.m. Monday, Sept. 22, Channahon police were called to the 24400 block of St. Paul Avenue for a report of a gunshot, and 911 dispatchers alerted the officers that one of the neighbors was armed with a baseball bat.

At the scene, a victim told Channahon's officers that he just arrived home and was sitting in his car in his driveway when Brown stood along his property line and declared, "I am going to kill you, get out of your car, you p****. I am going to end your life!" prosecutors revealed.

The neighbor noted there is only a 10-foot distance between their houses and that Channahon police gave Brown a prior no contact verbal order in the past. When the victim tried to get out of his car and grab his garbage cans on Sept. 22, Brown made even more threats as a second neighbor came down and asked Brown to go inside because he was disturbing the neighborhood and making a scene in front of the children, court documents show.

Suddenly, Brown grabbed his metal baseball bat and struck the second neighbor in the back of the head and then he struck him in the face with the bat, Will County's prosecutors say. The victim and Brown both fell to the ground and began fighting. When one of the neighbors tried to pull Brown off the intervening neighbor, Brown punched him in the face, court files show.

Moments later, Brown appeared to be choking the intervening neighbor, so the initial victim grabbed his gun and fired a single gunshot into the ground in order to stop Brown, prosecutors revealed. "Per video, this fight occurred on a public alleyway," prosecutors pointed out.

Channahon police spoke with Brown, who indicated that his neighbor came home and approached him in regard to Brown's son, according to prosecutors. The neighbor had previously asked Brown's son not to hit baseballs off his siding. During their argument, Brown claimed that the second neighbor approached and tackled him, and that's when he used his baseball bat to swing at him.

Prosecutors say Brown began yelling obscenities at Channahon police and others on the scene. During his booking process, Brown shouted, "When you release me, I'm gonna kill this man. Y'all gonna see me again, I hope y'all don't think this shit is over. Y'all might warn him," prosecutors told Ewanic.

Prosecutors noted that Brown complimented the neighbor he is accused of attacking with the baseball bat, informing the police that he "can take a f***** hit though. I can tell you that much, because I hit him with the bat hard."

The Will County State's Attorney's Office told Ewanic that several Channahon neighbors had to remove Brown from the victim during this fight. A portion of the incident was captured on a neighbor's Nest camera, and on the footage, the arguing and swearing can be heard, as well as the baseball bat striking the victim's head and the sound of the gunshot. Also, a young boy, about 5 years old, was outside in the driveway at the time of the fight and when the gun was fired, prosecutors said.

"That same video also showed another young child riding his bicycle down the street just moments before the fight started," prosecutors revealed.

As for Brown, he is a familiar face for the Channahon Police Department. In 2024, Channahon police had him arrested for cruelty to animals and assault. In that crime, Sept. 27, 2024, Brown kicked a different neighbor's dog and approached and threatened to harm the dog's owner, the criminal complaint noted. In May, Brown pleaded guilty to cruelty to animals and his second charge was dropped under the plea bargain. He was given 18 months of conditional discharge and "defendant shall not possess any companion animals."

Brown must also attend and successfully complete an anger management program.

In releasing Brown from the jail, Judge Ewanic noted how "the defendant is charged with a detention-eligible offense, but following the detention hearing, the court denied the state's petition to detain for the following reasons ... there are conditions of pre-trial release that can mitigate the real and present threat to the safety of any person or persons ..."

Brown's next hearing at the Will County Courthouse is set for Oct. 16 in Courtroom 405. Brown was placed on electronic monitoring and ordered to have no contact with the two different men in his Channahon subdivision he is accused of attacking with his baseball bat.